As a practice we have most experience of working with the Heritage Lottery Fund, where we have had the advantage of seeing the process from both sides - as successful applicants for grants and as assessors and expert advisors on other applications. This dual approach has given us an excellent insight into how to frame a successful bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund. We have a working knowledge of the other main Lottery funders, the Sports Lottery, the Arts Lottery and the New Opportunities Lottery Fund. In each case we can guide you towards the most appropriate source of funding, advise you of the basic criteria that need to be met for a successful application and give you an initial assessment of the appropriateness of your ideas.
We have acted or are still acting as architects for Heritage Lottery funded schemes at the following locations:
- The new Museum of Docklands £12,000,000
- The alterations to the Courtauld Galleries £2,700,000
- St George's Hall, Liverpool £12,500,000
- The reordering of the Castle Museum, Norwich £9,000,000
- The Tower Curing Works Museum, Great Yarmouth £4,000,000
- Roundhay Park, Leeds £6,000,000
- Christ Church, Spitalfields £4,500,000
- Wollaton Hall & Park £6,500,000
- Kirkstall Abbey, Leeds £4,000,000
- Wentworth Castle & Stainborough Park £10,500,000
- Sheffield Museum & Mappin Art Gallery £12,500,000
- Cobham Park £5,000,000
For several of these schemes we have been responsible for writing, co-ordinating and eventually publishing the final bid document. We have in-house graphic design, desktop publishing and colour printing facilities that make this possible. The work needed to put together a successful bid should not be underestimated; it requires a good deal of time, patience and clear thinking to co-ordinate the submissions from the various experts involved. A clear document, where all the figures agree with one another and where all the relevant appendices, drawings and photographs are bound into the document so that they cannot get lost, gives your application a clear head start over many received.
There are some key rules to be followed when making an application most of which are obvious but surprisingly often ignored as we see when assessing other bids. First and foremost it is essential to understand what the various lottery fund bodies own objectives are. There is no point in applying to Heritage Lottery Fund, for example, unless the key objectives of preserving the heritage, interpreting it and giving wider universal access are being addressed. Reading the application form with care, answering all the questions, avoiding irrelevant detail, ensuring that there are no contradictions in the answers are some basic but often ignored rules. The provision of a clear summary at the beginning of the document setting out the key facts and objectives of the project will be a boon to most staff in the Lottery Fund offices.
We believe that clear thinking and good advice at the outset of any project can maximise the chances of making a successful application and minimise the frustration of spending a good deal of money on the preparation of an unsuccessful bid.
